


While the Stars Watch

by Rosage



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28034886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: An unexpected companion joins Claude in stargazing.
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	While the Stars Watch

Claude settles into the alcove at the top of one of Garreg Mach’s towers. Whether it’s a quirk of the architecture or an abandoned sniper post, it affords him a whole blanket of stars, with just enough wind in his hair. Everything below looks as small and simple to map as the stars. Even the mountains dividing the world must be specks from high enough.

He rests an arm behind his head as he leans back, tossing his coin purse up and down. Nothing replaces trusting his wyvern to keep him airborne. Though, some days, he’d just like to hold the reins. The Alliance’s squabbles reach his desk in missives he can’t do a heck of a lot about, to say nothing of the secrets right under his nose. As glad as he is that everyone banded together to celebrate Flayn’s reappearance, his list of questions is beginning to rival the stars.

A shadow leaps up in front of him. He reaches for the bow he used to scale the wall.

“Easy, milord,” Yuri says. His silhouette stands over Claude with wispy hair and a slant of amusement.

“Yeesh, warn a guy next time. I almost fell from my nest.”

“Sorry, wasn’t expecting company.”  
  
“Neither was I. I didn’t think anyone else knew about this place. Or did someone take out a hit on the next Duke Riegan?”

Yuri holds up his empty palms. “Wouldn’t surprise me, but I’m just here for the view. Clear night, isn’t it? Mind if I join you?”

“By all means. The sky belongs to everyone.” Claude waves his hand overhead. Too late, he remembers his purse and stows it away. Yuri sits beside him with a knee pulled up, cozier than Claude was prepared for in the little alcove. A smoky scent prompts several guesses as to where Yuri was before this.

“Odds are good we’ll see a shooting star. They happen on full moons, you know,” Yuri says.  
  
“That doesn’t sound right to me.”

“Oh, I just have a good feeling about it. Say, do you ever wonder what would happen if all the stars fell? What if the Blue Sea Star shot out of the sky, and the goddess didn’t have anywhere to sleep?”

Claude laughs, too busy making out Yuri’s expression for real mirth. This doesn’t sound like Yuri’s usual teasing. If Claude didn’t know better…

“You do realize they aren’t really stars, right?” Claude asks.

Yuri turns to him. His face is probably closer than he ever lets anyone in the day, and even the dark can’t hide his owlish blink. “What aren’t stars?”

“Shooting stars? They’re just rocks. Big, big rocks. There’s a crater from one near where I grew up.”

“From a shooting star? You’re not pulling my leg, are you?” He cradles his knee, as if Claude is going to take it literally.

“Hey, I may like a laugh, but I despise misinformation,” Claude says.

“That makes two of us.”  
  
“Unless it works to your advantage, right?”

“I’ll neither confirm nor deny.” Yuri’s smirk returns, and he looks up again, catching moonlight in his eye. “What if people from other worlds could ride down on one of those rocks? Not the goddess. Just… someone.”

“You really think somebody’s out there?” If they were, the people of this world might never accept them.

“Who knows? It’d sure be interesting to meet them, though.”

Claude’s lips twitch without his consent. “I can’t argue with that.”

The wind whistles in place of conversation. The world tilts, ever so slowly, but the sky doesn’t betray the movement. It’s too late to snatch more than a moment of peace from that fact, with Yuri here, burning curiosity into Claude.

“So, you really don’t know much about stars, huh?” Claude asks.

“Guess they don’t cover that underground.”

Claude has picked up on at least two places Yuri lived aboveground, but Yuri would turn any questioning back around on him.

“Luckily for you, I know some secret constellations,” Claude says. Secret to anyone who’s never studied Almyra’s star charts, at least. Yuri leans even closer, his hunger for knowledge as palpable as a growling stomach.  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“There, for instance. See that wyvern? Starting from that really bright star.” Claude points, and Yuri gracefully traces his own finger in the wrong direction. “No, no. Mind if I show you?”

With care, Claude takes Yuri’s hand and guides it in an arc. Through their gloves, his thumb rests against a bony knuckle, his fingers half-wrapping around a warm palm. As rare and worth exploring as the space people in Yuri’s head.

“Hapi told me that was a pegasus. The wing, at least. It went to different stars from there,” Yuri says.

“Sounds like it’s a matter of perspective, then.”  
  
“Sounds like it. Who knows, it could just be a little bird.”

Yuri slips his hand free. The second Claude registers Yuri’s tension, Yuri stands. The cold rushes in to bite Claude.

“Well, that was enlightening. Thanks. Try to get some sleep, milord,” Yuri says.  
  
“You, too. Oh, before I forget…”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“Can I have my purse?”

Yuri throws his head back and laughs, a sound that rises into the night, unlike his usual low chuckles. “Ooh, forgot I had it. Would you believe you almost dropped it in the moat? You’re welcome.”

Yuri tosses it over. Claude catches it, an archer’s precision in the dark, and weighs it in his hand until he’s satisfied. So even thieves can be honest under the night sky.

“Next time you’re in the mood for tricks, meet me somewhere where the stars aren’t watching,” Claude says.

Crouching on the ledge, Yuri inclines his head. “It’s a date.”


End file.
